Continuing GNC’s coverage of the Wearable Technology Show, I’m with Kenneth from G+D Mobile Security which specialise in “user and device identities”. In particular, they’re behind some of the technologies that enable wearables and mobile devices to act as ID for, say, transit or ski lift passes.

The team at G+D Mobile Security work to put additional value into an existing wearable device, so a watch becomes a lift pass, an activity tracker becomes a payment device or a wristband becomes ID for a music festival. G+D were behind Swatch Pay launching in China with China UnionPay in 2017 using Swatch Bellamy models, and a European launch is expected later this year.

In the interview, Kenneth takes me through the process by which a wearable or other smart device can be programmed to securely mimic a credit card, and talks around the current capabilities plus some interesting future developments that give greater control over where and when payments can be made.

Payments are only one aspect of G+D’s wearable portfolio, and they’re currently working with various universities to develop IDs which can be used for access control, tracking class attendance and membership of sports teams.

Blizzard announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 for PC will be available exclusively on Blizzard Battle.net this fall. By “exclusively”, Blizzard means that the game will not be accessible on Mac through Battle.Net. Some of Blizzard’s other games are accessible by both Mac and PC. The Call of Duty Black Ops 4 website says the game will be available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One In the announcement, Blizzard says:

Players on Battle.Net will get all the same benefits as other games on the platform, including cross-game chat, social features via the mobile app, groups, and more. You’ll always be connected to your friends, whether they’re playing Blizzard games or Black Ops 4.

For the first time, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is coming to Blizzard Battle.net in a fully-optimized for PC experience and fully integrated into Battle.net social features. Developed in partnership between Treyarch and Beenox, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be the most robust, refined, and customizable PC shooter experience we’ve ever created. Features include uncapped framerate, 4K resolution, HDR, support for ultrawide monitors and additional features built for the PC community.

Players can preorder Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 now from either PlayStation Store or the Blizzard Store. The game will be released on October 12, 2018, on all platforms, including Blizzard Battle.net. Blizzard has pointed out in an FAQ that players can use their Blizzard Balance to purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 from the Blizzard Store. Players who preorder the game from the Call of Duty Black Ops 4 website can get access to the Private Beta.

Hi there everyone, this would be my last day filling in for Todd while he is heading back home from meeting with his team down in Columbus Ohio. Well last week, websites were hacked and GPS locations exposed. In the news today…customers information exposed via leaks.

Hasbro has announced that it has trademarked the scent of Play-Doh. The nostalgia-inducing smell of Play-Doh has become one of the few active scent trademarks in the United States. A news release was posted on the Hasbro website on May 18, 2018.

Today, Hasbro announces that the iconic Play-Doh scent, known and loved by fans around the world, is officially recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a registered trademark of the brand. The trademarked scent, which Hasbro formally describes as a unique scent formed through the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough, makes the Play-Doh brand one of the few active and certainly most famous scent trademarks in the country.

The news release points out that the Play-Doh brand started in 1956, and that the brand and the Play-Doh scent have become increasingly recognizable among children, parents, and grandparents. The “recipe” for the Play-Doh compound has remained largely unchanged, ensuring that when a container is opened, it has the same scent that many people grew up with.

Hasbro is asking fans of Play-Doh to celebrate its newly registered scent by sharing which favorite childhood memories the smell of Play-Doh evokes for them. Hasbro would like people to use #PLAYDOHSCENT and to be part of the conversation on their Instagram and Facebook.

Hi everyone, Kirk here filling in for Todd while he is away down with his team in Ohio.for tonight’s and Monday’s episode of the Geek News Central Podcast. On Monday’s episode Todd talked about phone carriers selling location data and now there is a website where leaked real time location on cell phones!

Twitter announced a new approach to how they will handle troll-like behavior that is intended to distort and detract from public conversation on Twitter, particularly in communal areas like conversations and search. Twitter will not remove such content from its service, but will instead put those comments under a “show more replies” link. People will not see those tweets unless they choose to click that link.

In the announcement, Twitter says that “less than 1% of accounts make up the majority of accounts reported for abuse” but that a lot of what is reported doesn’t violate Twitter’s rules. That being said, Twitter is aware that this small number of accounts have a “disproportionately large – and negative – impact on people’s experience on Twitter.”

Today, we use policies, human review processes, and machine learning to help us determine how Tweets are organized and presented in communal places like conversations and search. Now, we’re tackling issues of behaviors that distort and detract from the public conversation in those areas by integrating new behavioral signals into how Tweets are presented. By using new tools to address this conduct from a behavioral perspective, we’re able to improve the health of the conversation, and everyone’s experience on Twitter, without waiting for people who use Twitter to report potential issues to us.

Some of what Twitter is going to take into account include: if an account has not confirmed their email address, if the same person signs up for multiple accounts simultaneously, accounts that repeatedly Tweet and mention accounts that don’t follow them, or behavior that might indicate a coordinated attack. Twitter is also looking at “how accounts are connected to those that violate our rules and how they interact with each other.”

Those signals will now be considered in how Twitter organizes and presents content in communal areas like conversation and search. In short, content that doesn’t technically violate Twitter’s rules, but does disrupt and distort conversation, will be put behind a “show more replies” link. People can choose whether or not they want to click that link. According to Twitter: “The result is that people contributing to the healthy conversation will be more visible in conversations and search.”

In my experience, expecting a new baby is a conflicting mix of emotions ranging from total joy to sheer terror…and I’m the dad. For mums-to-be there’s the extra worry from carrying the baby and 78% of women experience unhealthy levels of stress and anxiety during pregnancy. These concerns are not entirely unfounded as the risk of miscarriages and stillbirths is significant, and sadly there’s still considerable stigma associated with a failed pregnancy.

Many medical professionals recommend measuring kicks and punches after 28 weeks as a good indicator of a foetus’ relative health but there’s often natural variation and mum’s often got other things on her mind. Of course, this is where Rubi from Sensable Technnologies comes in. Rubi is a passive wearable pregnancy monitor that mum wears over her bump to automatically record kicking information. Eric and Nolan tell me more about Rubi at the Wearable Technology Show in London.

Typically Rubi records a running total for the last hour and keeps track of the last kick. The information is transmitted via Bluetooth to the parents’ smartphones and the complementary app shows the activity. If there is anything to be concerned about, the Rubi app will alert the mum and she can do a non-stress test to check.

Rubi itself uses strain gauges which are screen-printed onto the fabric to make the maternity band, and there’s a small microcontroller pod for collecting the kick data and transmitting it onwards. In addition to the maternity band, the team has produced an active tape which adheres directly to the skin.

Rubi is now live on Kickstarter with several early bird deals. Prices are slightly different from the interview but currently Rubi is priced at US$223 / GB£165 with delivery expected in February and March 2019. The active tape version will be delivered earlier at the end of 2018.

Please bear the delivery dates in mind when considering your own pregnancy as Rubi is best used from 28 weeks onwards.

Phone Carriers have been selling your real-time location data to at least a few companies for years, in a bombshell report that has everyone scratching their head how is this even possible. Only coming to light after a now-fired Sherrif used the data illegally. Turns out cell companies can sell your location data to private companies but require a warrant from the government. Simply amazed that this can be abused. Kirk will be hosting the next two shows as I head to Colombus for my teams annual lock in retreat where we plan our strategy for the year.

Spotify has created a Hate Content & Hateful Conduct policy that it is using to determine what music will not be promoted on the service. Billboard reported that Spotify has removed the work of two artists from Spotify playlists after the Hate Content & Hateful Conduct policy took effect.

…We love that our platform is home to so much diversity because we believe in openness, tolerance, respect, and freedom of expression, and we want to promote those values through music on our platform.

However, we do not tolerate hate content on Spotify – content that expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability.

Billboard reported that Spotify users will no longer be able to find R. Kelly’s music on any of the Spotify’s editorial or algorithmic playlists. Users will still be able to find R. Kelly’s music on Spotify, but Spotify is no longer going to promote it in Spotify owned and operated playlists. Billboard also reported that XXXTentacion has also had his music removed from Spotify’s owned and operated playlists.

Spotify clarified why they will remove the work of an artist, who has violated the Hate Content & Hateful Conduct policy from Spotify playlists, but still allow the artist’s music to be on Spotify.

In their blog post, Spotify states: “While we don’t believe in censoring content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, we want our editorial decisions – what we choose to program – to reflect our values. So, in some circumstances, when an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful (for example, violence against children or sexual violence), it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.”

Money for SETI? The last time the US Government gave money to SETI was in 1992. There is some interesting history here that I am not aware of that I will do some research to find out on. Kirk and I also got on the same page today as there had been some disconnects with the show notes. Busy as ever here and it shows.